The date is 9/11, so I thought I’d take a moment to talk
about 911.
The first time we called 911, Tillery fell off a bed at the
Ronald McDonald House and had a massive bleed in her brain. She almost
immediately lost consciousness and Joe ran to the lobby of the house and had
them call 911. (The protocol at RMH is to call 911 from your room phone and
they will know exactly where in the house you are from the number but when your
child goes limp in your arms, you totally forget all rules and protocols.)
Local firefighters were the closest emergency responders and took Tillery and
Joe across to the hospital and straight to the trauma bay. Tillery had a
seizure on the way in the arms of a fireman.
The second time we called 911 was on Valentine’s Day 2015.
We had come home from Cincinnati for 10 whole days after being away from home
for over 4 months. Tillery had just had her skull bone stitched back in place
and was playing in the kitchen. She pulled herself up on her knees, which was a
new skill she had learned, and lost her balance. She fell backwards and hit her
head hard on the linoleum floor. I was home alone with both kids while Joe was
having our van serviced. I called 911 and the emergency responders came and
looked her over and felt she was okay but offered that they could take us to
the ER if that would make me more comfortable. After the emotional nightmare we
had been experiencing and having just had a major surgery on her skull, I
absolutely let them take us over for a safety CT. Wonderful neighbor friends,
Rick and Sarah, came and stayed with Luke while Tillery and I took a ride to
the hospital.
The third time we called 911, was last summer. Tillery had
been experiencing anxiety during port access for chemotherapy after having a
few painful experiences in the ER. To calm her nerves, we had started giving
her some anxiety medicine on chemotherapy days. That morning, as I measured out
her medicines, I got the dosing crossed on her anxiety medicine and another
medicine and ended up giving her a massive amount. Tillery became a ragdoll and
her eyes were really droopy. Even though I knew the mistake, I feared what that
overdosage of anxiety medicine would do mixed with all the other meds she was
taking. Since the EMS that came to the house were not familiar with many of the
12 medicines she was on, we decided it was best to head to the emergency room
and have her observed while the medicine was wearing off.
Three times we have called 911. So many other times we have
discussed calling 911. Every time she falls down, I glance at a clock and time
how long it takes her to calm down. Every time she says her head hurts or comes
to us crying and we can’t understand why, we reach for a phone. We live on pins
and needles.
Of the 3 times we have called 911, only one was an actual
life or death emergency. The other two times, we weren’t sure but we were
surely scared. When your child has cancer, you often jump to worst case
assumptions. Let’s be honest, before our child was diagnosed with cancer, that
was the worst case and it came true.
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